Ask the Patriarch 89
A Super-Consciousness?
A follow-up to the closed discussion in Talk Back 64

from Phil van Bergen

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While I agree with the argument on consciousness in the discussion on Talk Back 64 being definitional, you raise an important point. Can a polity be said to have a consciousness? Can we be part of a super-consciousness, yet not be aware of it?

I use the analogy of my body, having individual cells, which together form my body, which has consciousness. Could that not be extrapolated upward, such that our consciousness contributes to a greater whole, of which we are a constituent mote? Extend that to the Gaia Principle. Extend that to the furthest it can go - could we not be a part of God - assuming there is such an entity, which of course cannot be proved.

The Patriarch replies:

Phil:

The short answer is, of course, "I don't know."

The longer answer is comes from another question; "Where is the evidence?"

Yes, we can extrapolate downwards and suggest that cells, molecules, atoms, neutrons, and even quarks somehow contain a characteristic which adds up to our consciousness when they are all put together in the right order. But there is no objective evidence that such a characteristic exists or is necessary.

And we can extrapolate upwards and suggest that our collective consciousness, perhaps combined with the consciousness of all other conscious life, adds up to some form of super-consciousness. But, again, there is no objective evidence that such a characteristic exists or is necessary.

I will not go so far as to state "If we cannot detect it, it does not exist," because advances in science may make what is undetectable today glaringly obvious tomorrow. But still, the reality is that we cannot detect such a consciousness today.